Thread-feeding mechanism



NOV- 29, 1949 R. c. AMIDoN THREAD-FEEDING MEcHAN'IsM Filed Feb. 17, 19475 Sheets-Sheet 2 www, Ray A m'on,

Mowag.

Filed Feb. 17, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Ray (Z Anidow,

Patented Nov. 29, 1949 UNITED sfrAT ENT orFlcE Boy Amidon',` Reading.,Rawassignor` to. Vanity Fai'r Mills, Inc., a corporati'on o'fPnnsylvania ApplicationFebruary 17, 194.73 Serial: No. 729,102

(of rie-86) 10. Cl'aiin's.

The invention particularh7 relates to the mechproduction of fabricsXmade upontricot or so-` called fast warp machines, or in any process of.using the warp. principle, the density of the fabric or tghtnessofthestitches-islargely determined by the feeding (portion of'v thread"or yarn allotted to each4 knittingv cycle) In order toprevent thevformation: of so-called stop marks, frequently found in fabricswhe-nthefbeam let-off is uneven or irregular it has been found desirable to.provide some means of effectingb a continuous rotation of the beam in amanner to-let=oif en-4 actiy the amount of thread. or y-arn' that isgrebured by thev need-les.l v

' In knitting: machinesin which the let-off of. the yarnis effected'bythe pu-llf. of the. needles for starting the. rotation of the beam,the move:` ment of the beam is not: continuousa but isintera mittentandbrake devices have; heretofore4 been provided tooperateon the beamland prevent. its; overrunning. various methods-havebeenproposed'withfmore or less success,.toldrve the beam through suitable:speed adiusting. devices so as todeliver, the thread or yarn .at-afixed. linear speed. Ali such devicesheretofore de'vised, and` have.come. to: my know-- ledge are open to more. or less objection as, for;instance, they are too-complicatedy or too expert-- sive, or both.

.Mypresent inventiom, therefore, has. forV its: obiectto provideasimple, inexpensive and efiec-fltire mechanism for directly`v driving:the beam: regardless of the varying; diameter of theV thread; or yarnsoas to let-off. the. thread' oryarn at: a predeterminedlinear speed,directly related: to; the rate of thread being used by the needles inknitting process: ThisI accompli'sh by driving two rollers. incontactwith the: thread: om the beam. andat a constant speed and somountin'g the. rollers as to exertV a pincers action-i on. the bearnl,Ithereby maintaining uniform and con-- stant (non-slipping) contactbetween the rol-lers: and the thread on the: beam at all. times, andthereby feeding off thev thread or. yarn from the; beam at a uniform.linear speed regardless of the decreasing diameter of the beam frommaxi-4 mum to minimum.

V To the attainment of the aforesaid objects and ends the invention.further resides in those novels details of constructom. combinationandarrange-i ment of parts, all of which. shall first be fully 2.pointed out in theV appended -claims, reference being-.v had, to theaccompanying drawings in: which: Fig. L is an elevation of a-portion ofa knitting. machine illustrating my invention. Fg'., 24 is a sideelevation of the same looking, from left to right in Fig. 1'.

` Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of a modification wherein only oneroller contacts the thread on the beam. i i

' Fig. 4 is a. diagrammatic view of a modificatiozi in which a speedchanger isy employed between the. main or cam shaft of a machine andythe. beam driving means.

In .the drawings in which like numerals and letters of referenceindicate like parts in all theE figures, i represents a portion of theframe of a knitting machine which carries the bearings v to shaft". Onepair of arms H cai'ries a roller,

shaft on which is a beam-thread-contacting and turning, roller 2I` whilea similar shaft 14 and rollerZl are carried by the other pair of arms;I'Z.

Atleast one sprocket i5 is secured to each' shaft 116' over whichsprockets 15 and [3 and: over a spring-loaded idler sprocke't I8 a chaif6 passies, by virtue of which when shat 5b isf turned shafts ili, Iliwill likewise be turned.

The" arms H andv IZ are so positioned that their rollers [4 will engage.the thread on the;- beam at opposite sides of a plane containing the'ax'es of S'h'afts 3 and 5 (see Fig. 2). The lengthsl of arms I l and !2should preferably be the same; and notlonger than the distance fromshaft, 3 to shaft 5, so, that a straight line drawn from. one shafttothe other will lie between shafts 3' and 5.

The. sprocket is. has its shaft H journalled in ai block' lil mounted toslide in a slideway 211:V I Qcated between the axes of shafts 3 and 5,,a4 pring 2.0 serving to press theY block in a direcfe. tion; to, keepVthe chain. it taut and also to.y pressI the rollers HiV in contact withthe: thread on thev described, hereinafter and. then be speeifical1-ybeam ll'in directions toexert, Somewhat of;l

pincers action and thereby tend to force the beam in a direction tomaintain it in its bearing against riding out of the same.

If desired, a change-speed mechanism 22 of suitable character may beintroduced between shaft 9b and shaft b (see Fig. 4). By suitablyadjusting the mechanism 22, the thread or yarn may be fed to the needlesat predetermined increased or decreased speeds to produce a variety ofdifferent patterns and eifects. Such a speedchanging or adjustingmechanism is well known in the art and need not be specificallydescribed herein but see Fig. 3 of the Bassist Patent No. 2,303,903,issued December 1, 1942.

Those parts in Fig. 4 corresponding to like parts in the precedingfigures bear the same reference numeral plus the index letter b and neednot be further described.

'In Fig. 3 I have shown a single arm drive for the beam. In this figurethose parts which are the same as corresponding parts in the precedingfigures bear the same reference numerals plus the index letter a andneed not be further described here. When the single arm (or pair ofarms) is used a suitable tensioning device similar to that shown in thepreceding iigures may be used to tension the chain IiiEL and keep rollerEla against the beam 4.

While I have illustrated the single arm and roller embodiment of myinvention (Fig. 3) I prefer the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2 as beingmore practical and accurate in Operation than where a single contactroller is employed.

The rollers ZI, 2!a are of suificient length to function properly butthey need not and preferably do not extend over the full length of thebeam.

It will be seen that the rollers 21 and their drive mechanism do notinterfere with the travel of the thread from the beam to the needles.

While my invention has been devised principally for use on knittingmachines, it can also be adapted to other uses as well, for example,Weaving machines.

Since the shaft 5 is driven at a Constant speed the rollers 2! willlikewise be turned at a constant speed and as they are held in pressurecontact with the thread on the beam they will turn the beam so that thethread leaves the beam at the same linear speed all the time the machineis in Operation or until all the thread has been let-off the beam. Asthe thread is rolled oif and the diameter of the thread on the beamprogressively lessens, the speed at which the beam turns willcorrespondingly be increased all without the use of cumbersome brake orlever operated beam controls such as have heretofore been proposed.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings it is thought that the construction, Operation and advantageswill be clear to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. In a thread-feeding mechanism, means for letting-off the thread froma beam continuously at a predetermined linear speed, said meansincluding a power driven shaft, at least one arm pivoted on said shaft,a beam-thread-engaging and turning roller carried by said arm, meanscontinuously acting to maintain said roller at all times in operativecontact With the thread on the beam, and means operatively connectingsaid roller with said driven shaft to turn said roller at apredetermined speed.

2. In a thread-feeding mechanism wherein thread is fed from a rotatablebeam or the like mounted to turn in suitable bearings, the improvementwhich includes a suitably mounted driven shaft, two arms pivotallymounted at one end and each carrying at its other end abeamthread-engaging and driving roller, said arms being disposed so thatthe respective beamthread-engagng and driving rollers engage the threadon the beam at opposite sides of a plane containing the beam axis andthe arm pivot axis, said rollers having shafts, a driving connectionbetween said driven shaft and said roller shafts to turn said rollers atthe same speed, and means causing said rollers to maintain rollingcontact with the beam at all times.

3. In a thread-feeding mechanism wherein thread is let-off from a bodyon which it is wound, the improvement which comprises a supporting framehaving U-shaped bearings in which said body is mounted to turn about itsaxis, means including a pivoted arm which carries a bodythread-engagingroller simultaneously engaging the thread, turning said body and forcingsaid body in a direction to hold it down in its bearings;

4. In a thread-feeding mechanism wherein thread is let-off a cylindricalbody on which it is wound, said body having a shaft, the improvementwhich comprises a suitable frame having suitable bearings for said shaftto turn in, two pairs of arms pivotally mounted in said frame, rollershaving shafts, one journalled in each pair of arms and disposed toengage the winding on said cylindrical body at opposite sides of aradius of said body, means continuously urging said rollers into rollingcontact with said winding and means for turning said rollers at the sameconstant speed to let-off the thread at a predetermined linear speedregardless of the changing diameter of the wound body.

5. A mechanism according to claim 1 wherein a speed adjusting mechanismfor said driven shaft is provided.

6. A mechanism according to claim 4 wherein the arms are pivoted on acommon axis.

7. In a mechanism of the class described wherein is provided asupporting frame having bearings, a beam rotatably mounted in saidbearings, and a first motion shaft journalled in bearings in said frame,the invention which comprises. a driven shaft also journalled inbearings in said frame, a suitable driving connection between saidshafts, two roller carriers pivoted each on said driven shaft,beam-thread-engaging and turning rollers carried one on each rollercarrier for engaging the thread on the beam at opposite sides of a planecontaining the axis of said beam and the axis of said driven shaft, anendless driving connection between said driven shaft and each of saidrollers for turning said rollers both at the same speed, and meanscontinuously urging said rollers toward said beam and maintaining therollers in rolling contact with the thread on the beam.

8. A mechanism according to claim 7 wherein the last named meansincludes said endless driving -connection and a spring-pressed rollerover which said driving connection passes and by.. which said drivingconnection is kept taut.

9. A mechanism according to claim 7 wherein the length of said arms isnot in excess of the distance between the axis of said driven shaft andthe axis of the beam, by virtue of which the pressure of said rollersagainst the thread on the 5 beam results in a force tending to hold thebeam down in its bearings.

10. In a thread-feeding mechanism wherein thread is fed from a rotatablebeam or the like mounted to turn in suitable bearings, the improvementwhich includes a suitably mounted driven shaft, two arms pivotallymounted at one end and each carrying at its other end abeamthread-engaging and driving roller, said arms being disposed so thatthe respective beam-threadengaging and driving rollers engage the threadat opposite sides of a plane containing the beam axis and the arm pivotaxis, said rollers having shafts, means for driving said shafts at thesame speed from said driven shaft to turn said rollers at the samespeed, and continuously acting means for drawing said arms toward oneanother to maintain said rollers in contact With the beam during theOperation of the machine.

- ROY C. AMIDON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

10 UNITED STATES PATENTS

